25 March 2010, Windhoek

Climate change is one of the biggest catastrophes facing humankind as result of unsustainable economic growth and consumption and production patterns, largely from the GLOBAL NORTH. The dominant economic growth paradigm is turning the earth into a hostile environment with increasing droughts, floods, water-scarcity and many more physical disasters affecting every sector of society.

Despite this challenge our governments have supported the undemocratic and opaque Copenhagen Accord through which the Global North seeks to renege on its responsibility to reduce its unsustainable consumption and provide the necessary finance and technology to address climate change and a just transition to low carbon economies.

We acknowledge that climate change is a symptom of the exploitative, destructive, polluting, profit – driven consumption and production. As such the current orientation to address climate change through market – driven and trade- led approaches to promote competiveness, “green” tariffs, carbon markets and finance encouraging green capitalism is highly problematic.

We demand the polluter pays principle be implemented and reject the right to pollute through carbon trading and markets.

We reject the technology quick fix solutions to address the climate crisis, particularly the imposed false solutions to address the energy and food crises such as GMOs, agro-fuels, synthetic fertilisers, agrochemicals. These deepen will deepen the crises and perpetuate food aid dependency.

We demand sufficient, mandatory, predictable climate financing to developing countries. Climate funds are compensation and not aid. These funds should be over and above the longstanding ODA commitments (0.7% of GNP). In addition, funding should be in the form of grants which is consistent with the idea of reparations

We demand democratic governance and decision making of financing mechanisms under the UN process and the Conference of Parties (COP) and not the World Bank.

We urge governments and civil society to recognize the gendered dimensions of Climate Change, and facilitate meaningful dialogue between women who are directly affected with policy makers at both local and national levels as well as regional and global level.

We call for the removal intellectual property rights and trade restrictions that place severe constraints on people’s access to climate friendly technologies and thus their ability to promote low carbon alternatives.

Finally we call for civil society in Southern Africa to collaborate with other people based movements on Climate Change globally, and immediately activate existing networks and resources within our ranks, need to build each other’s capacities to engage meaningfully on pro-people solutions to the crisis of climate change.

SAPSN (Southern Africa)